~ Words to Remember

The Primacy of Whiteness

With a rebirth of xenophobia–a fear of all things foreign–during the period, the iconography of 1950s consumer culture and politics reconnected with Nordic images of America and Americans. Newly middle-class people of immigrant backgrounds were expected to embrace the primacy of whiteness, and those who held to their ethnic identity, or expressed concerns about social justice, were branded as Communists or pinkos.